Bloomberg’s ‘Riskless Return Ranking’ says Israeli market ‘produced better risk-adjusted returns than all other developed stock markets in the past decade’

Israel is one of the safest choices for investors, a recent Bloomberg report stated.

According to a Tuesday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, Bloomberg’s most recent “Riskless Return Ranking” concluded that for the most part, investors discount the threat of war from Israel’s neighbors.

The Israeli market has “produced better risk-adjusted returns than all other developed stock markets in the past decade,” the report said.

According to Bloomberg, the Tel Aviv TA-25 Index (TA-25) returned 7.6% in the 10 years ending February 17 – the highest among 24 developed-nation benchmark indexes.

The risk-adjusted return is calculated “by dividing total return by volatility, or the degree of daily price-swing variation, giving a measure of income per unit of risk. A higher volatility means the price of an asset can swing dramatically in a short period of time, increasing the potential for unexpected losses compared with a security whose price moves at a steady rate,” Bloomberg said.

The report noted that “Israel beat Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HSI), the next-best market with a risk-adjusted gain of 6.7% and Norway, which had the highest total return.”

The report also lauded Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, saying that under his leadership, Israel’s economy “grew more than twice as fast as the US last year.”

“Israel is an exciting place to invest in,” Michael Steinhardt, a top former hedge fund manager told Bloomberg. “The country is surrounded by enemies, it’s always on the edge of extinction, but it expands and prospers.”

The report further said that “The Israeli gauge returned 161%, including dividends, over the last decade, the third-best performance among developed markets after Norway’s OBX Index and the Hang Seng.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the report, saying “This is a great achievement.”

Source: Ynetnews.com

On Monday, February 20th, Richard Marceau, General Counsel and Senior Government Advisor at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, served as an expert witness for the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Representing the Centre’s perspective on Section 1 of the Justice for Victims of Terror Act, Marceau made a forceful case in support of these important legal provisions. His testimony can be read in its original French below.

—-

Mon nom est Richard Marceau et je suis ici au nom du Centre consultatif des relations juives et israéliennes, le représentant officiel de la communauté juive canadienne.

I will be making my presentation in French, but would be happy to answer any question in any official language.

Mes commentaires ne porteront que sur la partie 1 du projet de loi C-10, celle intitulée ‘Loi sur la justice pour les victimes d’actes de terrorisme’.

Je suis particulièrement heureux d’être ici aujourd’hui que, dans une vie antérieure, dans l’autre assemblée, je m’étais déjà intéressé à ces enjeux et avais commencé à y travailler.

J’y avais été sensibilisé par C-CAT the Canadian Coalition Against Terror. Je pense en particulier à Danny Eisen, Maureen Basniki et Sheryl Saperia.

Ils sont des modèles d’implication, d’engagement civique et de ténacité citoyenne.

La communauté juive du Canada appuie la partie 1 du projet de loi C-10.

Nous sommes heureux de constater que le gouvernement ait ainsi répondu aux demandes des victimes du terrorisme.

Et qu’il y ait un appui de la part des autres formations politiques dans ce domaine.

Trop souvent, après une période intense suivant les événements de terrorisme, ces victimes sont laissées seules, sans recours, sans appui officiel. 

La peur et, surtout, l’impuissance demeurent.

Pour les individus touchés.

Et pour les communautés visées.

C’est pourquoi les mesures contenues dans C-10 ont rapidement obtenu l’appui de beaucoup de Canadiens, de plusieurs communautés, et en particulier de la communauté juive.

La communauté juive, dans le monde comme ici, a trop souvent été la cible du terrorisme.

Vous vous rappellerez par exemple que la communauté juive a été la cible d’un complot terroriste en août 1999 quand 2 membres d’une cellule algérienne de Montréal, dont Ahmed Ressam, le fameux ‘Millenium Bomber’, planifiaient de faire sauter un camion-citerne rempli d’essence dans un quartier habité et fréquenté par un nombre important de Canadiens juifs.

Ou encore lorsqu’en avril 2004, une bombe fut lancée contre une école juive de Montréal, constituant un parfait exemple d’une violence motivée politiquement et par la haine des Juifs.

Ou encore, à l’extérieur du Canada, lorsqu’une jeune femme juive, Marnie Kimmelman, fut assassinée par une bombe tuyau alors qu’elle était tranquillement assise sur plage en Israël.

En tant que communauté à risque,  nous croyons que les victimes canadiennes du terrorisme devraient être autorisées à engager des poursuites au civil contre ceux qui commettent et appuient des actes de terrorisme, même s’il s’agit d’États étrangers.

Et nous espérons que ce projet de loi jouera un rôle dissuasif pour prévenir les actes de terrorisme futurs contre des citoyens canadiens.

Lorsque mon collègue David Cooper a témoigné devant vos collègues de la Chambre des communes, il a plaidé pour que C-10 soit amendé et a proposé plusieurs amendements.

Nous sommes heureux de constater que plusieurs de ces amendements ont été effectués.

Nous avons bien hâte de voir la liste des États pouvant être poursuivis qui sera proposée par le gouvernement. Nous nous attendons évidement à ce qu’elle soit robuste.

Et complète.

Je sais que le temps file.

Permettez-moi simplement de dire qu’il est temps d’envoyer de forts messages.

Aux victimes : qu’elles ne sont plus seules.

Qu’elles ne sont plus isolées.

Qu’elles n’ont pas à être impuissantes.

Aux terroristes et à leurs appuis :

Que le Canada est sérieux dans sa lutte contre eux.

Que ni nous, en tant qu’État, ni les victimes ne resteront immobiles.

Que le temps de l’impunité est terminé.

Richard Marceau, General Counsel and Senior Government Advisor at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, discusses his recently published book “A Quebec Jew: From Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish Activist” with Michael Coren on The Arena.

By Lillian Swanson

Those who came to hear Judea Pearl speak last night at an event sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center‘s Museum of Tolerance might have expected to be offered an array of numbers, shown detailed charts or even be given a sense of whether anti-Semitism was getting better or worse. Instead, he handed them something else entirely.

Pearl, father of slain reporter Daniel Pearl, used the annual lecture on the “state of anti-Semitism” to upend conventional thinking, and argue that anti-Zionism is a strain of hate that is far more dangerous to Jews than anti-Semitism.

He called anti-Zionism, which he defined as the denial of Israel’s right to exist in the family of nations, as “the worst form of racism.” Unlike anti-Semitism, he said, it carries a measure of social acceptance, and it “hides itself in the cloak of political debate.”

Those who think anti-Semitism, especially as it colors debate about Israel in the United States, is the greater danger are mistaken, Pearl told the crowd in his opening address on Monday night. Jews, he said, have become experts at fighting anti-Semitism, likening it to a disease in which “the antibodies are known.”

“Anti-Zionism is worse. It is harder to fight. It comes in a camouflage that allows it to penetrate vital tissue undetected,” he said. Then he paused briefly and added, “Like at our universities.”

Pearl, who has a Ph.D in electrical engineering, has been on faculty at UCLA since 1969. The professor’s expertise is in artificial intelligence, human reasoning and the philosophy of science. He is also president of the foundation that carries his son’s name, a nonprofit that encourages intercultural understanding by supporting journalism, public dialogue and music.

Pearl acknowledged that he had spent “many sleepless nights” thinking about the phenomenon that turns innocent children into virulent haters.

The program at Hunter College opened with a moment of silence for Danny Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped on January 23, 2002, as he headed for what he thought was an interview with a Muslim cleric. A month later, evidence of his beheading was shown in a shocking videotape released by his abductors.

The elder Pearl said he believes his son “was murdered by anti-Zionists, not anti-Semitists.” While acknowledging he had not watched the videos taken by his son’s captors, Pearl said the photos hanging in the background had been described to him, and all were anti-Israel and anti-American.

Moderator Steve Kroft of CBS’s 60 Minutes sat on a stage with Pearl and asked if he thought his son had been targeted because he was Jewish, an American reporter or a combination of both.

“A combination of both,” Pearl answered. His son’s captors wanted to humiliate America, and they thought that because he was Jewish their actions would be forgiven, Pearl said.

Pearl, who was born in Tel Aviv, speaks with an Israeli accent that sometimes makes it hard to understand his exact words. But there is no mistaking his passionate defense of Israel and his belief in the Jews’ historical connection to the land. Asked about those who criticized Israeli government’s policies, he answered that he thought anti-Zionism often was lurking beneath their words.

In his speech, Pearl called anti-Zionism “morally appalling and strategically harder to fight.

“Anti-Zionism targets the most vulnerable part of the Jewish people, the 6 million people of Israel. It condemns them to eternal statelessness in a very bad neighborhood,” he said.

He encouraged the use of the r-word, to call out as “racists” those who deny Israel’s right to exist.

“First, they are stunned. Then the debate shifts … into our core issue,” which is that they are denying the Jewish people that which is granted to other nations.

In a question handed up from the audience, Pearl was asked what he thought about Jews who say they are anti-Zionists. “That’s easy,” he responded. “It’s a ticket for social acceptance.”

Read more: http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/151360/#ixzz1mxhj2ra1

Recently, the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA) proposed its own codes of conduct, guidelines and best practices to self-regulate its broadcast standards.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs took a dim view of this proposal due to the NCRA’s adoption of aBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution vilifying Israel at their 2011 AGM.

Accordingly, the Centre intervened with a written submission to the CRTC, which can be found here.

By Spencer Fernando

When speaking to predominantly Jewish audiences, Kasim Hafeez often begins by saying the following words: “When I was in university, I would have gladly killed every one of you.”

By his own admission Kasim Hafeez was three months away from going to a Jihadist training camp. He easily could have ended up as a suicide bomber.

If this doesn’t get your attention, nothing will. But the story of Kasim Hafeez, and his journey from hating Israel and the Jewish people, to becoming a self described “Zionist,” is one of the most remarkable transformations I have ever heard of.

On Feb. 6, I had the opportunity to attend a speech by Hafeez titled: “Changing the narrative of Israel in the Muslim community,”

Hafeez was born in the U.K., where, as he tells it, he was raised in an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel environment and was radicalized while attending university. He grew up going to anti-Israel and anti U.S. protests. He was repeatedly told “everything was a conspiracy by the West.”

He began by telling the audience that the situation in the U.K. today is terrible; anti-Semitic attacks, especially at university campuses create fear among Jewish citizens. He became “radicalized” at the university, attending many anti-Israel events and movies — even seeing peers intimidating Jewish students.

He discussed the anti-Israel movement, a movement that often defines itself as “anti-Zionist.” He said that he could “not tolerate the term anti-Zionism,” because it’s “just anti-Semitism repackaged.” He said that among his group, despite their hatred for Israel and the Jewish people, “Nobody would say they were an anti-Semite, we all said we were anti-Zionist instead.”

He took part in events where he and his friends chanted “death to Israel”, and openly called for “the slaughter of Jews.”

And in a sad exemplification of the maxim that “Evil can only triumph when good men do nothing,” nobody at the university campus did anything in response to these horrible words.

Hafeez legally purchased Al Qaeda DVD’s, and was in his own words “completely indoctrinated.”

Hafeez said that he formed a plan. He would go to Pakistan, and join a Jihadist training camp.

One day, while in a bookstore, Hafeez came across the book “The Case for Israel,” by Professor Alan Dershowitz. He bought the book so that he would be able to understand the “Zionist lies,” expecting to be able to shoot down all of its arguments. Instead, as Kasim put it, “Dershowitz went unanswered.” He could not refute the logic of some of Dershowitz’s statements. He was suddenly faced with something that conflicted with everything he had been raised to believe. He suffered a crisis of conscience. His friends would not read the book and told him that the confusion he was experiencing was exactly “what the Jews wanted him to feel.” That he “was being poisoned.”

So, Hafeez decided to go to Israel. He had his stereotypes ready to go. He was expecting all the Jewish people to hate him; he expected “an apartheid state.” It shocked him that he was treated kindly. He saw a nation of people of all colours. He went to the Western Wall Plaza, and saw Christians, Muslims, and Jews. He wanted to go directly to the Western Wall, the most holy site for the Jewish people. He said that he “thought I wouldn’t be able to go in.”

Hafeez went freely to the Western Wall. When he finally reached the wall, and placed his hand on it, he says that he “burst into tears,” realizing he was standing in “the world’s only Jewish state,” a place that six million Jew’s, with the prayer “next year in Jerusalem,” in their hearts, were never able to see.

After this moment at the Western Wall, Hafeez realized that Israel is about the survival of Jewish life, Jewish culture and heritage.

After his trip, Hafeez went through a very dark period. He re-examined all of his past views, and realized that he had been wrong. This took remarkable courage. During this period, he lost many of his friends, and rifts opened up in his family that have not healed to this day. He has not spoken to his father in 10 years.

Hafeez fell in love with Israel. He is proud to say “I’m a Zionist.” One thing he said that particularly stuck with me was “What starts with Israel won’t end with Israel.” Israel is not a Jewish issue he said, it’s about everyone who supports freedom and democracy, human dignity and self-determination. Hafeez now feels that calling Israel an apartheid state is “disgusting,” and that it is a slap in the face to South Africans.

Hafeez calls on all people to promote Israel in the “best possible way.” Share the truth: for example, that the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) were one of many nations providing humanitarian aid after the Haiti earthquake.

Despite all the difficulty he has encountered, he said that the greater loss for him as a person would be if he remained silent out of fear. He said that supporting Israel was “about his soul.”

Hafeez was direct when addressing anti-Israel groups: “Palestinian activists’ vision of Palestine doesn’t include Israel.” He said there is “one narrative based on lies, and one narrative based on truth.” He urged the audience to advocate for Israel, and not let Canada become like the U.K., where, according to Hafeez, Jewish people are intimidated on a daily basis.

Kasim Hafeez is one of the most courageous people I have had the opportunity to meet. He stepped back from the precipice of hate, and showed that each of us can unlearn our prejudices and become more whole human beings. He gave up most of his friends, and much of his family in order to stand for what he believed was right. How many of us would have the courage to make that choice?

I can only hope that the example set by Kasim Hafeez will inspire people who question the legitimacy of Israel to turn away from the path of war, and fight for peace.

Spencer Fernando is the comment editor of the Manitoban.

The Manitoban

140-year-old model on display near Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate, after spending 138 in Basel, Switzerland.

February 13, 2012

Statement Condemning Israeli Boycott at the University of Regina

Toronto, ON – On February 11^th, the University of Regina’s Student Union passed a resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli academics and businesses. In response, David Koschitzky, Chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, issued the following statement:

“We condemn this resolution and call on the Student Union to repeal it immediately. The campaign to boycott Israel rejects constructive dialogue and solutions that promote peace and reconciliation. On the contrary, it holds Israel as solely responsible for the conflict and punishes all Israeli academics – including those who are themselves activists for peace.

“Israel, the most free and liberal country in the Middle East, is the only democracy in the world whose citizens are singled out and personally boycotted for the policy decisions of their government. It is outrageous that the University of Regina’s Student Union would endorse such a repugnant campaign. We call on students, academics, and alumni of the university to give voice to their conscience by contacting the Student Union and university President to demand the repeal of this resolution.”

-30-

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is a non-partisan organization that creates and implements strategies for the purpose of improving the quality of Jewish life in Canada and abroad, increasing support for Israel, and strengthening the Canada-Israel relationship.

For more information, contact:

Steve McDonald

Associate Director, Communications

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

416-953-4417

by David M. Weinberg

The Times of Israel, February 13, 2012

One of the questions we Zionists often ask ourselves is this: Why don’t other minority nationalities around the world who, like us, are struggling for their independent national expression identify more strongly with Israel? Does it always have to be that they tend towards support for the Palestinians?

A refreshing new autobiography by a Quebecois convert to Judaism demonstrates that the answer is no. You can be a nationalist minority searching for self-identity and working for political independence –- in this case, the independence of Quebec from Canada -– and simultaneously be a passionate Zionist. You can admire the struggle of Israel and the Jewish People and adopt it as a role model for your own battles. Israel can indeed be a light unto the nations.

A Quebec Jew: From Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish Activist, by Richard Marceau (Editions du Marais, French and English editions), provides a window into the mindset of a “double minority” person. Marceau is an 11^th-generation Quebecker from a staunch Roman Catholic family and a former separatist member of parliament. Now he is a Jew by choice.

Marceau’s spiritual odyssey and double conversion to Judaism (first Reform, then Orthodox) is a small part of the book and, in fact, the less interesting part. The bulk of the text is a fascinating attempt to explain Jews, Israel and Zionism in terms uniquely understandable to Quebeckers. Using Quebec cultural references, Marceau tears down stereotypes about Jews and debunks canards about Israel.

“Becoming a Jew,” he writes, “meant becoming a member of a community that an important segment of Quebec society viewed with suspicion and undoubtedly ignorance… In fact, my Zionism made me into a ‘bad Jew’ because according to a portion of the Quebec intellectual class, a good Jew is a Jew who is always critical of Israel, even someone who seeks the destruction of the State of Israel.

“Yet I was baffled by the fact that Quebeckers and especially sovereignists were so much in favor of the Palestinians. Everything I saw, heard, read and discovered about Israel was light years away from what I thought I knew based on media reports in Quebec. It reminded me of the many misconceptions I had heard about Quebec in the rest of Canada. So many things divorced from reality. Indeed, Quebec is often judged not on what it does but on preconceived ideas –- just like Israel!”

Marceau reminds us of the great Quebec separatist premier of the 1970s, Rene Levesque, who often evoked positive comparisons between Israel (and the preservation of Jewish culture and traditions) and Quebec (and the preservation of French culture and traditions in North America). “Israel is a national home very similar to the one French Canadians are trying to set up,” Levesque said.

Marceau proceeds to show Quebeckers how Judaism is a civilization which helped bring to mankind the concepts of liberty, human rights, minority rights and equality, and how Israel is an outpost of Western values in the autocratic Middle East. He explains to his readers that double standards have been unfairly applied against the State of Israel -– just as they have against Quebec.

Marceau is now a lobbyist and counsel for the Canadian Jewish community (the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs), and has become a good friend of mine. In his forthright book he tackles anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, the Arab lobby, and Red-Green alliances in Quebec. He exposes and shames the Hamas and Hezbollah supporters who have surfaced in Montreal and Quebec City in recent years, dissects the infamous Goldstone Report, and offers a spirited and lengthy rebuttal of the charge that Israel is an apartheid regime.

He shows how Israel’s integrationist immigration and absorption polices have built a creative and pluralistic society. He argues that Israel offers a good model of “reasonable accommodation” (an important term in Quebec political debate), and that Quebec can learn from Israel’s bold social policies and struggles how to bridge the gaps between Quebec’s different traditions.

Struggle is a key word in Marceau’s mental world -– the world of Quebec and Israel. It is for this reason that he chose the Hebrew name Yisrael, whose Biblical meaning is “He who struggles with God.” He continues to struggle to draw the two societies closer –- for the sake of Quebec, for the sake of Israel, and I suspect, for the benefit of his own very pure and brave soul, too.

Richard Marceau discusses his book “Juif. Une histoire québécoise” | “A Quebec Jew” on Quebec’s V-Network. February 10, 2012.
Video in French